Curriculum Vitae

Marika Avenel Brown

ABD Doctoral Candidate in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University

Ph.D. Candidate (ABD), Department of English & Cultural Studies, McMaster University (2018-present; expected defence December 2024)

Master of Arts in English Literature and Digital Humanities, Carleton University (2016-2017)

Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English Literature, Specialization in Interdisciplinary Studies in Sexuality, Concordia University (2012-2016)

Diploma of College Studies (Honours) in Social Science, Psychology Profile, Marianopolis College (2010-2012)

Doctoral Candidate, McMaster University (2018-ongoing)
Dissertation in progress on (cultural conceptions of) nature in contemporary science/speculative fiction, with particular attention to SF as a form of environmental writing. Primary texts include novels, television shows, video games, and real events. Comprehensive Examination field survey written in the Environmental Humanities, focusing on the contemporary history of “nature” and how the term functions.

Research Assistant, McMaster University (2019-21)
Research Assistant on Dr. Andrew Mactavish’s project “Imag(in)ing Wildlife,” which looks at the ideological work of wildlife photography.

Masters of Arts, Carleton University (2016-17)
Major Research Project: “‘Everything speaks in its own way’: Exploring Nonhuman Ontology in James Joyce’s Ulysses.” Supervised by Dr. Adam Barrows. Both the paper and defence received an “A” grade.

Volunteer Research Assistant & Office Manager, Smithsonian National Museum of American History (2013)
Assisted postdoctoral and graduate research projects engaged with the museum’s archives, including Mark Mullen’s project  “Accessing America: A History of Driving with Disabilities.”

Research Experience

Supervisor, McMaster University
- ARTSSCI 3X03 — Individual Study (Spring/Summer 2022). Supervisor for Jessica Latimer’s project “Reading Nature and Science in Speculative Fiction.”

Instructor of Record, McMaster University
- English 4E03: Literature, Culture, and Climate Catastrophe (Winter 2023). Course taught using a “labour-based contract grading” system.
- English 2Z03 — Nature, Literature, Culture: An Introduction to the Environmental Humanities (Winter 2022, online & hybrid). Course taught using a “labour-based contract grading” system.

Senior Teaching Assistant, McMaster University
- English 2RW6 — Reading & Writing Criticism (full year: Fall 2020 & Winter 2021, online)

Teaching Assistant, McMaster University
- English 2RW6 — Reading & Writing Criticism (full year: Fall 2019 & Winter 2020)
- English 1AA3 — Longer Genres: Literature for our Times (Winter 2019)

Marker, McMaster University & Carleton University
-English 3GF3 — Studies in Popular Genres: Black Diasporic Speculative Fiction (Fall 2022)
- English 3PT3 — Time & Perspective in Fiction (Fall 2018)
- ENGL 2100 — The Visual Novel: Situating Prestige Television (Summer 2017)
- CHST 3000 — Teens and Tweens in Contemporary Society (Winter 2017)
- ENGL 2908 — Celtic Literature (Fall 2016)

Course Intern, Concordia University
- INTE 270 — HIV/AIDS: Aspects of the Pandemic (full year: Fall 2012 & Winter 2013)

Teaching Experience

Montanari, Melissa & Marika Avenel Brown. “Horror Comedy ‘The Menu’ Delves into Foodie Snobbery When You’re Dying for a Cheeseburger.” The Conversation, 26 January 2023, theconversation.com/horror-comedy-the-menu-delves-into-foodie-snobbery-when-youre-dying-for-a-cheeseburger-197957.

Brown, Marika Avenel & Melissa Montanari. “On the Possibilities of Queer Vegan Pleasure.” Succession II: Queering the Environment (A NiCHE Series), 29 June 2022, niche-canada.org/2022/06/29/queer-vegan-pleasure.

Publications

“Transforming Classroom Ecologies: Labour-Based Contract Grading in Environmental Humanities Pedagogy”
Association for Literature, Environment, and Culture in Canada (ALECC) Biennial Conference, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, June 2022.

“Fabricating Nature: Reading Nature and Artificiality in Horizon Zero Dawn’s Doubly-Digital Ecosystem”
Digital Ecologies Workshop 2021, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, March 2021 (online).

“‘Something even wilder and more alive’: Reading Nature, More-than-Human Life, and Urban Assemblages in Nnedi Okorafor’s Lagoon”
Accepted paper at the Canadian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (CACLALS) Annual Conference at the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities 2020 at the University of Western Ontario in London, ON. The conference was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Mechanical Wilds: New Relations with an Unnatural Nature in Horizon Zero Dawn”
The Canadian Game Studies Association (CGSA) Annual Conference, Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, May-June 2019.

“‘As regular as the clock’: Resisting Heterosexual Temporality in James Joyce’s Ulysses”
Eccentric Circles: The Sexuality Studies Association (SSA) Annual Conference, Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, May-June 2019.

“Do Pikachu Dream of Electric Mice?: Animality and Oppression in the Pokéverse”
Animal Print: Concordia English Graduate Colloquium, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, March 2018.

“#SavePepe: The Political and Social Mobilization of Internet Memes”
The Sincerest Form of Flattery: Concordia English Graduate Colloquium, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, March 2017.

Conference Papers